The Guru NCAAW Local Report: Villanova and Saint Joseph’s Rally Over Wake Forest and Syracuse; Lehigh Wins at Northwestern; Sweep Complete by Penn, Rutgers and Penn State

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

VILLANOVA, Pa. — Unlike several places formally titled with challenges elsewhere in opening week clashes across the nation, a Big 5/Atlantic Coast Conference showdown was not among the local highlights marketed among with the overall slate on Sunday afternoon.

But with Saint Joseph’s off to Syracuse in the JMW Wireless Dome while Villanova was at the end of line in season openers here at Finneran Pavilion hosting Wake Forest, by default that is what came into existence all by itself.

And when the action concluded both had finished with rallies from early deficits for a sweep within an overall sweep as Villanova’s retooled lineup zipped past the Demon Deacons 64-56, while Saint Joseph’s soared past the Orange 84-70 in upstate New York, giving Big 5 coaching dean Cindy Griffin her 400th win at her Alma mater.

The end-of-the-line trio, nationally, Sunday, all tipping at 2 p.m., included No. 4 Texas and Missouri State.

The Wildcats, with four transfers and three incoming freshmen, got 18 points from freshman Jasmine Bascoe, a Canadian from Ontario, while Ireland’s Bronagh Power-Cassidy, of Dublin, who transferred from Holy Cross’ Patriot League champions, scored 17, shooting 7-12 from the field, including 3-6 from deep.

Wake Forest’s Tamia Jones had 19 points and nine boards while Elise Williams scored 11.

In the Saint Joseph’s game, Talya Brugler, who graduated a year early, was 10-15 from the field, including 5-6 from beyond the arc, for 29 points, Mackenzie Smith scored 25, fueled on 5-11 from deep, and scored 11 points for the Hawks (2-0).

Georgia Woolley scored 19 for Syracuse (1-1) and Sophie Burrows scored 14.

Elsewhere, an outcome that no one had on their betting card, Lehigh handled Northwestern 85-68 in suburban Chicago; Penn started the day with a late-morning tip and went on in a tightly contested battle to win at America East defending champion and favored Maine 56-52; Penn State rallied in the second half at home to beat Duquesne 92-83 in the Bryce Jordan Center; and Rutgers at home topped nearby NJIT 94-84 at Jersey Mike’s Arena.

All that came on top of Saturday wins by La Salle, Lafayette and Princeton.

Beginning at this site we’re at for local coverage, anticipation existed over what would the nu-look Villanova show following the hit in the portal that claimed six players, three being prominent starters, from the team that just missed returning to the NCAA tournament and finished runnerup in the new WBIT.

Lucy Olsen, third in the nation in scoring, headed off to Iowa replacing scoring legend Caitlin Clark, who had graduated to the WNBA; post presence Christina Dalce joined the rebuild at Maryland, and Zanai Jones departed to SMU, while Megan Olbrys was also among the outbound list that included Bella Runyan, who used up her eligibility.

Olsen was on national television later in the afternoon leading the Hawkeyes with 20 points, six boards, and four assists, in a 71-52 win over Virginia Tech in the second game of the Ally Tipoff in Charlotte, N.C.

Back here, continuing the narrative, the Wildcats beat the Demon Deacons down in North Carolina last season, though Wake Forest finished in the ACC next to last, the same as forecasted this season, which is lower with the addition of Stanford and California from the still-born PAC-12, and SMU from the American.

Nevertheless, while a later season start gave Denise Dillon some extra practice time to build some chemistry, Sunday’s opponent arrived with a 2-0 start, wins coming over Queens (N.C.) and Charlotte.

Riding that momentum, the visitors jumped to an 11-0 start while the home team was shooting blanks at 0-12 before Lara Edmanson, a transfer from Santa Clara, hit a field goal with 2:46 left in the first quarter.

The sides then exchanged baskets the rest of the quarter with Wake Forest up 17-8 at its conclusion.

From there the Wildcats, locking down on defense, chipped away, trailing 25-23 at the half; edging in front 42-41 after three quarters, and then building a 12-point lead near the end of the final period to seal it.

Overall, the final three quarters Dillon’s team had a 21-point advantage.

“Bro and I were talking about how it felt for her being the first official game and a lot of new people,” Dillon said. “She said they didn’t let it affect them when things weren’t going our way early with making shots, the recognition of getting the right shots, and they did what they’re capable of doing. Then the players stepped up.”

The loss of Olsen had been principally disconcerting to the fan base and program after she had kept the Villanova momentum of national relevancy alive that was established the previous season with the record-setting all-American Maddy Siegriest, now with the WNBA Dallas Wings.

“Obviously, shots weren’t dropping, but we also all had trust in each other that, you know what, once we see the ball in the basket, we’re going to have faith in everybody else that we’re just going to to keep rolling, Power-Cassidy said. “All my team, you know, they put me in good positions and trusted me to hit shots, and I have trust in them the exact same way.”

There’s also upside from Bascoe, who lives near Toronto, having played on Canada’s bronze medal-winning FIBA Under-19 World Cup, and silvers at the 2023 and 2024 Under-18 Americas Cups.

“She’s an ideal point guard in the sense of her ability as a scoring point guard, but just her maturity as a freshman — she’s played a lot of big games,” Dillon said. “Playing for her national team Canada has given her that experience to understand that every game’s going to be close, every game’s going to be impactful, and teams are going to come out and try and pressure.”

As for the adjustment coming into a squad that’s been playing getting to know you over the summer, Power-Cassidy said no problem.

“It came back to connecting as a team, like we’re all pretty new, but we’ve bonded very quickly these past couple of months,”  she explained. “I think we were just itching to get on the floor, play a game against different people.”

Reviewing the flow of the game, Dillon, who would be a strong candidate for Secretary of Defense in the nation of basketball, said, “A credit to the defensive end, to make it as hard as possible, we came out, they hit shots early but we settled in defensively and figured the offense would come eventually,” the ‘Nova coach said.

“We were getting the right shots, and it always has to be consistent on that defensive end.”

Villanova’s next pursuit will be an intriguing, regional hookup Wednesday at 7 p.m. when the Wildcats travel nearby north Wednesday to begin a three-game string of the top of the Ivies, beginning at defending regular-season co-champion and league tournament champion Princeton, 7 p.m. (ESPN+) in Jadwin Gym, followed by the other region co-champ Columbia v insisting Saturday at 2 p.m., followed on Nov. 20 by Penn at 7 p.m. in the first Big Five  pod game for the home team.

Saint Joseph’s Soars

Meanwhile, during the week when reporting the Saint Joseph’s opener against local D2 Goldey-Beacom in a huge lopsided game, someone asked of what use that kind of game would serve the Hawks.

The reply given was they needed someone to play ahead of visiting Syracuse and good mid-major teams are finding it tougher to get their first option, even second, so just getting chemistry, etc., going is better than nothing.

Apparently, Saint Joseph’s proved that notion correct.

Late in the first quarter, the Hawks were down by 12 before Smith cut the deficit with five personal points to end of the period.

Then Brugler tied it all up herself with eight straight.

The Orange snapped it, but the Hawks powered by Ziegler’s shot from deep went up by one.

From there, the duo of Brugler and Smith began lowering the boom, by games end combing for 54 points, four short of the programs scoring record by a duo.

Dale Hodges (32) and Kim Foley (26) put 58 on BYU on Nov. 26, 1988, then Hodges (27) and Ellen Shields (31) matched it on Jan. 4,1990 over A-10 rival Saint Bonaventure.

“A game like that (the opener) gives you a lot of confidence and we came up here with a lot of confidence going into the game,” Griffin said from the Hawks team bus heading home. “We shot the ball really well.”

Saint Joseph’s is off until Friday, when the Hawks travel down to The Palestra to play Penn in the first pod round in the Big 5 for both teams at 4:30 p.m. (ESPN+) before a men’s game hosted by the Quakers is on the nightcap of a twin bill.

Penn Wins at Maine

Coming off Friday’s opening win against Merrimack at home, Penn had no negative affects off the long ground trip up to the top of New England to play Maine, winning a tight battle aided by Mataya Gayle, the Ivy and Big 5 freshman of last season, scoring six of her 11 points in the fourth quarter.

Senior Stina Almqvist had a team-high 17 points, with seven boards and five assists beating the Black Bears on the same floor they refined La Salle’s season opener last Monday.

The victory made it a two-season sweep having  downed Maine in late December last year.

Freshman Katie Collins had eight points, eight boards, five assists, and three steals, while freshman Sarah Miller reached double digits off the bench, scoring 10 points.

“This is one of those really great wins that you can talk with your team all season about,” Penn coach Mike McLaughlin, now the dean of Ivy women’s coaches, texted during the team’s bus trip back home.

“We were committed to defending hard and we team rebounded the ball. Mataya Gayle played exceptional down the stretch; she made several huge shots at key points of the fourth quarter.”

The Quakers host Siena of the MAAC, Wednesday, at The Palestra at 6 p.m. (ESPN+) ahead of their first Big 5 game hosting Saint Joseph’s on Friday.

In the Midwest, Lehigh claimed its first-ever win over a Big Ten program downing Northwestern 85-68 at Welsh-Ryan Arena in suburban Chicago in a game the Black Bears (2-1) controlled most of the way and keeping the Wildcats (0-2) winless.

It’s also the first win over a Power Four program since beating Mississippi State in 2010.

Lehigh Bags One in the Big Ten

Lehigh, which lost at Michigan Friday, having given the Wolverines a strong first half, shot 46.8 percent.

The Black Bears had 25 assists on 29 made field goals and senior Colleen McQuillen had a career-high 10 assists.

“The message was the same as it was headed into Michigan,” said coach Addie Micir, a Bucks County native who played at Princeton. “These are winnable games, and we didn’t love our response in the third quarter to Michigan.

“The theme of the day was respond. That was with our body language, that was after mistakes and also it was to respond that when we build a lead, keep going. I thought we did an excellent job of that. We wanted to rebound. We wanted to run and play with pace, and we wanted to slow Northwestern down, and we did that.”

The Black Bears also connected with 18 three-pointers on Northwestern, coached by Father Judge grad Joe McKeown.

The long shots were just one shy connection of the record against Pitt last season.

Lily Fandre had a career-best 26 points, gaining a personal-best six treys. Overall, she was 8-for-14 from the field with four boards and three assists.

“Our main goal was the respond, and I really think we came out working, like share it, and shoot it,” said Fandre.

Elle Stemmer had 18 points, shooting 6-of-8 from the field and connecting on five from deep.

Maddie Albrecht joined the parade of Lehigh players in double figures with 16 points, shooting 6-of-14 from the field, and gaining eight rebounds.

Lehigh is off a week, but back on the road Sunday, visiting Brown at noon (ESPN+) in Providence, R.I.

Adams Dominates for Rutgers

Down at Rutgers it was a record-setting day in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, N.J., where Destiny Adams had 36 points and 22 rebounds in a 94-84 win at home over NJIT.

The double double is the highest in the Big Ten era for the Scarlet Knights (2-0) and was the tenth career one for Adams. Kiyomi McMiller put 25 points on the Highlanders (1-2).

Chyna Cornwell grabbed 15 rebounds.

Adams tied an arena record set in 2020 by Arella Guirantes, and is the first in the program to have two straight 30-point games since the famed WNBA New York Liberty star Sue Wicks.

“She just plays so hard, which is what makes it difficult to stop her,” said Rutgers coach Coquese Washington.

Overall, the Knights had 61 rebounds, the most since 2018.

Rutgers (3-0) is off until Friday when Iona visits at 11 a.m., the annual Recess Day (B1G+).

Penn State Continues Run on Duquesne

Penn State rallied late to deprive Duquesne of a second straight upset, winning 92-83 over the Dukes in their Bryce Jordan Arena as five players scored in double figures to keep the Nittany Lions unbeaten at 3-0, while the visitors leveled at 1-1.

Moriah Murray scored 26 points as the series climbed to 18-1 in favor of PSU. She was 7-12 from the field and 6-for-10 from deep.

Tamera Johnson scored 17, Gracie Merkle scored 13, Gabby Elliott collected 12 with six rebounds, two assists, and two steals, and Jayla Oden also scored 12 points.

Alli Campbell had a career-high eight assists.

Penn State is off until Thursday when Niagara visits in a Field Trip game at 11:30 a.m. (B1G+).

And that’s your local report.